More Like This

Preview

This chapter details the origins of the East India Company’s network of fortified settlements in Asia and South Atlantic, beginning in the mid-seventeenth century, ultimately establishing outposts at Madras, St. Helena, and Bombay. It argues that the Company conceived of these settlements not simply as trading posts or factories but as colonies and plantations, modelled upon and sometimes in competition with other such European efforts in the Atlantic and Asia. Company leadership was concerned with attracting immigrants and settlers to these colonies and establishing effective legal and...

This chapter details the origins of the East India Company’s network of fortified settlements in Asia and South Atlantic, beginning in the mid-seventeenth century, ultimately establishing outposts at Madras, St. Helena, and Bombay. It argues that the Company conceived of these settlements not simply as trading posts or factories but as colonies and plantations, modelled upon and sometimes in competition with other such European efforts in the Atlantic and Asia. Company leadership was concerned with attracting immigrants and settlers to these colonies and establishing effective legal and political institutions to govern them. The chapter further explores how Company governments sought to establish a system of circulation amongst these settlements and represented their aspirations to political power and authority through a variety of instruments, such as the planning of urban space, coins and mintage, and political ceremony and display.